They are also reported to have U-turned on the decision to pay
staff the London Living Wage. The PCS claims the National Gallery
are now the only major cultural venue in the capital not to pay
the rate.

Nicholas Penn, Director of the Gallery, however, said plans to
pay the staff the rate are still on course, and in order to free
up the requisite funds it’s necessary to privatize visitor
services.

“If the National Gallery is to continue to thrive as a public
entity with reduced public money, change is essential. There is
no option that allows everything to stay the same.”

“The proposed changes are
necessary to enable the National Gallery to increase income in
the face of a reduced grant and increasing maintenance and
running costs, and to enable it to pay all staff a minimum of the
London living wage,”he added.

The conciliation service Acas hosted five months of talks, which
ended without agreement, resulting in calls for strike action.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This five-day
walkout will put the National Gallery in the spotlight for all
the wrong reasons.

“The sell-off plan is reckless and risks damaging the
worldwide reputation of what is one of the UK's greatest cultural
assets, and we are determined to stop it.”

It further emerged that
a trade unionist and senior National Gallery CPS member present
at the Acas talks had been suspended by management on the eve of
the strike.

In what protesters called a “disproportionate act of
unfathomable bad faith,” the gallery suspended Candy Udwin,
alleging she was responsible for a breach of commercial
confidentiality after sharing a document detailing the cost of
using a private company with her full time union official.

“This dispute and the sell-off plan are putting the global
reputation of the National Gallery at risk.

“Suspending one of our senior reps on the eve of our strike
is a disproportionate act of unfathomable bad faith and not only
should she be reinstated immediately, the gallery must commit
itself to full and proper negotiations,” he added.

The gallery already outsourced some of its security to the
private firm CIS earlier in the year.